Accommodation

**rose24** · 20-03-2010, 02:01 AM

Hello

I have just started thinking about accommodation and have a few questions, so:

Catered or self-catering?

How does Crombie-Johnston compare to Hillhead, i.e. rooms, social life, facilities?

How is the catered food?

How long does it take to get from the various halls/flats to Foresterhill campus?

How do the different Hillhead houses compare?

Is sharing 1 toilet and shower among 12 people as grim as it sounds?

Thanks

**acas13** · 20-03-2010, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by rose24

Hello

I have just started thinking about accommodation and have a few questions, so:

Catered or self-catering?

How does Crombie-Johnston compare to Hillhead, i.e. rooms, social life, facilities?

How is the catered food?

How long does it take to get from the various halls/flats to Foresterhill campus?

How do the different Hillhead houses compare?

Is sharing 1 toilet and shower among 12 people as grim as it sounds?

Thanks

Right. just so you know, I am not a student, but I have lived in Aberdeen for the last 5 years... I would go for self catered, but this depends on your ability to cook, obviousley! Self catered gives you a chance to learn how to cook and I believe sets you up for later life... Hillhead is a fantastic student village, as it has ammenities onsite, unlike Glasgow or Edinburgh, you can do your weekly shop at Hillhead. Also, although the Foresterhill site is little bit further away from the main campus, it does allow you to be fully intergratedd with the dynamics of the NHS from day one!

**Kensei** · 20-03-2010, 05:43 PM

Hey rose,

The accommodation topic is invariably discussed on the forum every year with new applicants... IMO, there are two main choices:

1) Halls
2) Sharing a flat (i.e. finding one through an agency or simply knowing the landlord)

Depending on your budget, on whether you are a grad, and on what quality of living you require, you could go for one or the other - and the choice is definitely an important one.

Halls are generally louder, further away from foresterhill campus, lower quality-for-your-money vaule... but if you can live with that, they have a few advantages over sharing a flat (at least during the first year). The main ones include convenience (you're guaranteed to get a room in Halls in 1st year, and if you choose living in rented flat you'd have to spend some time looking for one) and the social factor (there will be quite a lot of medics living in the halls, so you get to know everyone a bit better).

If, on the other hand, you don't care about convenience or the social factor, or if you have a limited budget - definitely go for a shared flat (and everyone moves out of Halls in 2nd year anyways - which tells you sth). This way you'll get a room which suits your standards, in a location of your choice, and you even get some say in regard to who you're going to live with (in Halls, once you're allocated to a room you can't really change it just because you don't get along with your flatmates).

Now, on to your questions:

I agree with acas, go for self-catered. Catering is not worth the money IMO, and you have to stick to the meal times they set. The quality and choice of food is not great either. If you do choose Halls over a rented flat, you'll live within walking distance from Lidls so there will be cheap food of all sorts available and even if you don't like cooking fancy meals, Lidl's frozen pizzas will sustain you during the 1st year

Crombie-Johnstone is a bit closer to foresterhill and to bus line 14 which goes to foresterhill, and generally has higher standard than most of Hillhead halls (except for the New Carnegie block, of course). Social life is probably not as good in C-J because majority of the students end up in Hillhead (which, as I said earlier, does NOT imply that Hillhead is better).

It takes approx 30-40 minutes to walk from C-J to foresterhill, and probably over 50 minutes to get there from Hillhead. If you want to take a bus to school every morning, it's a 10-minute drive (but it might be quite packed if everyone from the halls takes a bus at the same time) - and the bus stop is 5 minutes away from C-J (10-15 minutes away from Hillhead).

I can't comment on various Hillhead houses, though the more expensive ones (New Carnegie, as well as North and South Blocks) are of slightly higher quality (NC was opened 2 years ago so its still brand new) - still, IMO not worth the money they charge for staying there (I think it's over 100 quid per week).

I don't think you're going to share one toilet and one shower with 12 people

It's likely to be a 6-person flat, and the more expensive ones accommodate 3-4 people per flat with a toilet+shower in each flat.

Hope this answers some of your questions
Kensei

**Rachel_longwell1** · 25-03-2010, 11:34 PM

I'm having exactly the same predicament at the minute! Does anybody know anything about the "unite" halls? Do you end up living with other freshers and are they central?

**Kensei** · 26-03-2010, 06:06 AM

Hi Rachel,

I stayed in UNITE halls (spring gardens) last year - the UNITE accommodation can be divided into two types: university-bound and those operated solely by UNITE. I think the ones which currently hold a contract with Univ of Aberdeen include the New Carnegie halls and abovementioned Spring Gardens (though they were not under university control when I stayed there). You can obviously go for either type, but with SG and NC halls you get university pricing rather than UNITE rates (I can't tell you whether that makes it cheaper or more expensive, sorry..).

In both of these types of halls you're going to end up staying with freshers, though the university-controlled halls only house students from UoA, while 'regular' UNITE halls additionally accommodate RGU students, college students and other young ppl.

Spring Gardens, Old Fire Station and Mealmarket Exchange are all quite central (as in - close to city centre... not quite so close to the foresterhill campus). New Carnegie is located at Hillhead, so it's quite remote for both city centre and med school access. They used to operate the Kings Exchange which is just next door to King's campus (i.e. located between Mealmarket exchange and Hillhead) - but their webpage doesn't list that property any more - I can't say why this is the case.

If you have any other questions re: unite accommodation please feel free to ask

Kensei

**Rachel_longwell1** · 29-03-2010, 01:22 AM

Thanks so much! You've made things much clearer!

**sara7000** · 30-03-2010, 02:01 AM

Hey guys,

I am a bit confused and this may sound like a stupid question but are the houses listed on the comparison chart like Burnett House, Keith house a part of Hillhead? I am terribly confused at the moment tbh lolz

**Rachel_longwell1** · 30-03-2010, 03:10 AM

I think they are all part of Hillhead. It seems to be one big site with lots of different appartment buildings!

**rose24** · 30-03-2010, 11:21 PM

Thanks for the replies.

I'm definately going to go for halls.

**Keeno** · 30-04-2010, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by sara7000

Hey guys,

I am a bit confused and this may sound like a stupid question but are the houses listed on the comparison chart like Burnett House, Keith house a part of Hillhead? I am terribly confused at the moment tbh lolz

Has been answered but yes they are, and I've posted countless pictures of Burnett from when I stayed there on another forum. Can hook you up if you want. But basically, they are all as dingy as each other!